PCG begins unloading anteaters’ carcasses from Chinese vessel

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) yesterday said that 159 boxes of carcasses of anteaters have been removed from the cargo hold of the Chinese fishing vessel F/B Min Long Yu and transported to Puerto Princesa City, Palawan.

PCG Palawan District commander Commodore Enrico Efren Evangelista said they used two M35 trucks from the Naval Forces West and Armed Forces of the Philippines Western Command in transporting the dead anteaters (pangolins) to the designated burial site in Irawan, Puerto Princesa City.

“The hauling of the carcasses is still ongoing. There are still other boxes that would be unloaded from the Chinese fishing vessel. We will conduct an inventory of the dead anteaters before they are buried,” Evangelista said.

To contain the stench of the skinned anteaters, they were individually wrapped in black plastic bags during their 30-minute ride from the Port of Puerto Princesa, where the Chinese boat was docked.

The rotting anteaters would be buried in a hole measuring 10 meters x 6 meters x 4 meters.

The 48-meter steel-hulled F/B Ming Long Yu ran aground on Tubbataha Reef on April 8.

It was removed from the reef by motor tugboat M/T Limay owned by the Malayan Towage and Salvage Corp. on April 19.

PCG personnel arrested 12 Chinese led by their 46-year-old captain Liu Chang Jie. The vessel’s port of origin was Fujin City. It reportedly came from Malaysia and was returning to China when it ran aground at the atoll.

The PCG said they found at least 400 boxes of dead anteaters in the cargo hold of the Chinese ship.

Anteaters are known delicacies in China.

The Tubbataha Management Office hired the services of MJJ and Albayda Health and Sanitary Services to decontaminate the rotting anteaters.